Lingering Still
by Lizzie83hp
Summary: "Amy, time and space is never, ever going to make any kind of sense. A long time ago, you got the best possible advice on how to deal with that. So I suggest you go and give it." Continuation of the Good Night mini-ep.


Amy was faintly aware of the TARDIS doors shutting behind them, but it certainly could not be heard over the din. With only a few footsteps, Amy was back in the Leadworth fairgrounds seventeen years previous, a certain magic in the air that she didn't think she had felt before. What had happened on this night all those years ago fit together perfectly with what she was about to do. Her life was pieces of a timey-wimey puzzle, simply waiting to be put together.

The most familiar thing of all was the smell. The Leadworth fairground had a certain smell to it - the scent of sweets in the air, of the brisk night air and of the trampled grass. It was the scent of childhood.

Despite her return to a night from her past, Amy was still unhappy. Coming here was absolutely unnecessary. All she'd want wanted was a simple answer to her complex question. But with _him_, it was never that easy, was it? She'd thought that the Doctor looked somewhat… _distant_ lately, like he had something else on his mind. Amy would begrudge him this night of fun, as long as they got back to the TARDIS soon.

Unlike herself, the Doctor appeared to be enjoying the Leadworth fair. He was laughing like a small child and pointed excitedly at everything, from candyfloss to a particularly engaging ring toss game. He appeared to want to do as many things here as he could, but all Amy wanted was to find where they sold the ice creams.

It was almost like she had some sort of internal compass. Amy moved through the crowd with ease and knew exactly where to step, despite having thought she'd forgotten things like this long ago. In the space of a minute, she had found her way from the front doors of the TARDIS to the stall selling ice creams, confident that the Doctor was following her without having to turn around and check.

Trying to ignore the curious look the man at the stall was giving her choice of clothing, Amy dug her hands into her pockets before realising she didn't have any money with her. She turned and came face-to-face with the Doctor.

"Doctor, I'm in my nightie. How exactly would I be able to buy any ice creams?"

"Don't you keep money with you?" the Doctor asked her, sounding honestly confused. "I've always got some money on me. Not always _your_ sort of money, mind."

"I actually _sleep_ at night, Doctor. I don't sneak out and run off to parties like _some_ people. I don't need money."

"You're lucky I've got some, Pond. Otherwise we'd have to start running," he informed her grimly, rummaging in his jacket pocket for any loose change. When he finally reached his hand back out and opened his fist, Amy raised her eyebrows at what he'd come across. In his hand were several different shapes of buttons, his sonic screwdriver, a stamp, some puzzle pieces, tiny silver and gold pellets (which Amy assumed were some sort of futuristic currency), and buried underneath all of the trinkets were several normal looking coins. Picking carefully, Amy managed to find £1 in the mess from the Doctor's pocket.

By the time she'd received her and the Doctor's ice creams and turned to find him, he was already standing flat against the side of another stall and mouthing 'look' at her. Amy looked in the direction he was pointing, and felt her breath catch in her throat.

Little Amelia Pond stood not too far away from them, the ice cream in her hand wobbling dangerously and she hopped excitedly. She was at the edge of a small crowd of children, neither of her parents or her two friends nearby. She seemed a bit distant from everyone else. Amy distinctly remembered the feeling of being unable to connect with the most of the village children. Deep inside her, it still stung.

Amy went over to the Doctor, glared at him and shoved the ice cream in his general direction. He took it and winked at her before pointing over his shoulder at the tiny version of her, bobbing in time to a song coming from a games stall.

"Time to give that advice, Amy."

"I hate you."

"No you don't. Go on, get going!"

Sighing at the Doctor's insistence, Amy took hesitant steps toward her younger self, her slippers rustling the dewy grass. She hadn't encountered her own past in so very long. What if she did something wrong? But she already remembered it happening, so she couldn't possibly mess it up. Could she?

With another happy jump, the little girl's ice cream toppled out of her ground and to the ground. It pooled in a sad little heap at her feet, and with a wobbling bottom lip, Amelia began to cry. Feeling pity for herself, Amy went towards the girl and knelt down to meet her eye level.

"Hey."

Engrossed in her sadness, Amelia waited a moment before she raised her head and looked at the woman in front of her. She did not seem to notice the resemblance between the two of them, for which Amy was grateful.

"Cheer up, eh? Have an ice cream."

Amelia looked down at the stranger's hand, where she saw a brand new ice cream. She blinked at the kind woman and took it slowly, remembering in the back of her mind what she had always been told to do when a stranger approaches you. She backed up slightly and looked up at the woman's face again. Her eyes, half-closed and tired-looking, still shone and looked oddly familiar to her, though she couldn't place why.

"Thanks. Who are you? And what're you wearing?"

The woman stood herself back up and smoothed out her clothes, which Amelia had realised moments earlier were a nightie and a dressing gown. Her red hair fell in gentle waves over her shoulders as she hunched over slightly. It looked just like hers.

The woman simply winked at Amelia and backed away, slinking behind a nearby stall.

When Amy met back with the Doctor, he had finished his ice cream and was sitting cross-legged on the ground, inspecting a piece of grass between his fingers with great interest.

"There, done. Can we go now?"

Startled, the Doctor gave a little jump as she spoke up. He turned to look at Amy with an enormous, bright grin on his face, and she knew without even having to ask that they certainly wouldn't be going back yet.

"Oh, Amelia, you're no fun! Fairs are _amazing_. I don't care what planet they're on. Besides, we haven't even tried to win one of those big teddy bears yet, and that's one of the best bits! And you promised we could go on the ghost train."

Amy pulled a face and gave a short laugh. "Are you nine? And by the way, I didn't promise you we could go on the ghost train. I barely even agreed to give that ice cream to myself."

The Doctor cocked his head to the side and gave Amy a lopsided smile, his eyes sparkling with excitement. Amy continued their informal staring contest, and with a huff, threw up her hands.

"Alright! Ghost train it is. But no bears! I let you keep the bowtie, that's bad enough."

He tugged at the black bowtie around his neck. "Yeah, but bowties are cool."

* * *

><p>Because Amy hadn't gone on the ghost train herself when she was a girl, she didn't know the way to the ride. The Doctor, however, being the child at heart that he was, found it in a heartbeat. Despite his constant assurances that ghost trains were in fact terrifying, horrible experiences (and yet, were still good fun), Amy remained unconvinced. The children that were exiting looking perfectly calm (and some even appeared giddy). Hardly bone-chilling.<p>

Amy tried to drag her feet along, but it was no good - the Doctor knew exactly what she was doing. He pulled at her arm impatiently, looking more immature that the children standing behind them in the queue. Some of children actually stared at him, each one immediately aware that it was possible to never grow up at all.

As she had expected him to, the Doctor slipped his hand into hers as the ghost train began to move. She should have told him that this _was_ Leadworth, after all. She'd encountered _ducks_ more frightening than the fairground ghost train was. But he acted afraid, all the same. He held her hand at the train jerked and began to move, creaking into the passages.

He held her hand as they rode through the dark and past the feeble attempts at frightening creatures.

And he held it when they finally slowed to a stop several minutes later.

They were left laughing as they exited the ghost train and continued on. It was just as ridiculous (and as far from being frightening) as Amy had thought it would be. Wooden cut-outs of ghosts, equipped with poorly synced sound effects, was one of the funniest things she'd even experienced. The Doctor, however, had nearly jumped out of his skin at several points. He tried to pretend that he'd found the ride funny as well, but Amy wasn't having it. He was, after all, the reason she'd lost circulation in her hand.

Neither of them was aware, but their hands were still held tightly together.

Though they themselves hadn't, others noticed. Many were fixated on the two people, laughing loudly and hands swinging as they went through the crowds. They appeared so carefree, even more so than most of the children around them.

The one who watched them for the longest time was a young girl with a brand-new ice cream in her hand. She watched the funny red-haired lady in a nightdress and the man with the bowtie grace through the mass of people. Night had fallen over Leadworth, and the two people faded into the darkness, leaving the girl watching their retreating forms until she could see them no more.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Have you guys all watched the _Night and the Doctor_ mini-eps? _Good Night = CUTE OVERLOAD._


End file.
